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He went to the courthouse to pay a traffic ticket. A simple thing, really — $95 for a burned-out
headlight on his red 1992 Chevy S-10 pickup truck.

But Charles D. Dials, 18, who quit high school to get a job to support his mother, brother and
sister, was the classic case of being in the wrong place at the wrong time. On April 2, 1997, Dials
was pulling out of a parking space on Fulton Street when Alva E. Campbell Jr. charged out of the
back of the Franklin County Courthouse, armed with a 9 mm handgun he had taken from a deputy he had
overpowered.

Campbell carjacked Dials and forced him to drive around for three hours before he pulled into a
South Side parking lot. Minutes later, Dials was dead on the floor of his truck, two bullets in the
back of his head.

Yesterday, the Ohio Supreme Court set a July 15, 2015, execution date for Campbell.

But neither Joe Dials, the victim’s younger brother, nor Franklin County Prosecutor Ron O’Brien
is satisfied with waiting that long.

“We wish it would have gone through a lot sooner so the family could have been done with this,”
Dials said.

He wants to be a witness at Campbell’s execution.

“I hate to say I’d want to watch a man die, but I have to do it.”

O’Brien recalled yesterday describing Campbell as “the poster child for the death penalty” at
his trial. “I said that 15 years ago, and I still believe it.”

O’Brien is upset that the execution date is so far in the future.

“I don’t understand why it takes more than two years to carry it out. I’ve talked to the
governor’s office and DRC (the Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Correction) about it and have
not gotten a satisfactory answer from anybody.”

Ohio Supreme Court spokesman Chris Davey said he could not discuss Campbell’s case, but, “There
are a variety of factors that go into determining execution dates, which are set in consultation
with the Department of Rehabilitation and Correction. DRC has asked that the court set execution
days at least 60 days apart.”

Campbell’s daring escape while on the way to a court appearance, the brief manhunt leading to
his arrest, and the subsequent trial received widespread media attention. He previously had served
20 years in prison for murdering a Cleveland bartender.

Dials’ family received a $1.3 million settlement from Franklin County to avert prolonged
litigation.

This time of year is particularly hard for his family, Dials said.

He remembered that his brother, who was just two years older, quit Groveport High School and
went to work at a warehouse to help support him, his sister, Kayela, and his mother, Arlena Hughes.
The children’s father had abandoned the family years earlier.

“He was pretty much the father figure,” said Dials, now 32. “He was an awesome big brother, the
go-to guy. Every-body loved him. It was a devastating blow to our family, losing him. It was
nothing I would wish on my worst enemy.”

In a taped confession played at his trial, Campbell talked about driving around with Dials and
listening to news on the radio about his escape.

“I lied to him. I told him I wasn’t going to hurt him,” Campbell said. “The kid had a whole life
in front of him, and he told me his mom and dad were divorced. Now, his mom is without a son.”